Spicy Stir-Fry Vegetable Soup

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This spicy loaded soup is ready in 15 minutes and serves 8, so feel free to halve the recipe. If you don’t like spice, reduce the amount of chili or omit altogether. Feel free to use the recipe as a roadmap: no ingredient is essential, so experiment with the vegetables and see which flavours appeal to you.

Ingredients

1 red onion, sliced
3 bell peppers, sliced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 inch piece of ginger, quartered and thinly sliced
150g button mushrooms, quartered
2 bok choy, the white ends sliced and the green tops left whole
2 red chilis (optional), sliced
1/2 block tofu (approx 150g), cubed
2 litres vegetable stock
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp yellow miso paste

Method

1. Sauté the onions in a large soup pot over a medium-low heat. When they start to colour, add the peppers, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, bok choy whites, and chilis.
2. When the vegetables have started to soften, add the tofu, stock, and soy sauce.
3. Don’t bring the soup to a boil; instead, allow it to simmer over a low heat for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the bok choy and the miso, and stir. Simmer for two minutes more.

Japanese Marinated Tofu

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This budget meal is perfect with noodles or rice and stir-fried vegetables as an accompaniment. There is an air fryer option available. Serves 4.

Ingredients

1 block extra-firm tofu (approximately 350g), drained and pressed
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
4 tsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp shichimi togarashi, or Japanese seven-spice spice mix
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp rice vinegar

Method, Oven Option

1. Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a baking tray with parchment or a silicone sheet. Cube the tofu, and arrange it on a single layer on the tray.
2. Bake for 20 minutes, turning once.
3. While tofu is baking, mix the rest of the ingredients for marinade.
4. Remove the tofu from the oven and combine with marinade in a shallow dish. Toss to coat well. Leave for 10 minutes at least, and increase the oven temperature to 190C.
5. Remove the tofu from the marinade, return to baking tray, and bake for 5-10 minutes more until sauce has caramelized.

Method, Air Fryer Option

1. Preheat the air fryer to 160C. Cube the tofu, and arrange it in the pan. Bake for 8 minutes, turning once.
3. While tofu is frying, mix the rest of the ingredients for marinade.
4. Remove the tofu from the oven and combine with marinade in a shallow dish. Toss to coat well. Leave for 10 minutes at least, and increase the air fryer temperature to 180C.
5. Remove the tofu from the marinade, return to pan, and bake for 4 minutes more.

Besan Dosa

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This is Besan Dosa–a gram flour pancake–with a difference: sun-dried tomatoes and spinach. Multiply the quantities of the dry mix and store in a lidded container in the fridge for easy and quick breakfasts. This takes about 10 minutes to prepare from start to finish, and serves 2.

Ingredients

For the dry mix

1/2 cup gram flour or besan
1 tbsp ground flaxseeds or linseeds
1/2 tsp onion granules
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
Pinch turmeric
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch black pepper
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp nutritional yeast

For cooking

Small handful of spinach, shredded
1 green onion, finely sliced (1 tbsp reserved for garnish)
3-4 sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped with a kitchen scissors (1 tbsp reserved for garnish)

Method

1. Preheat a lidded frying pan over a medium heat (we don’t have a lid for our frying pan, so we use the lid of our soup pot, which fits just inside the rim of the pan).
2. Mix all dry ingredients.
3. Stir the spinach, green onion, and sun-dried tomatoes into the dry ingredients.
4. Add 1/2 cup water to the mix and stir well to combine. Now, a little at a time add more water until the mix becomes a pouring consistency.
5. Spray the frying pan with a little oil (if it is not a nonstick pan), or wipe over with a piece of kitchen towel dipped in oil.
6. Pour half of the mix into the frying pan and tilt the pan to allow the mix to form a circle.
7. Cover the pan and allow the dosa to cook for 2-3 minutes until little bubbles appear on the surface and the underside is slightly browned. Turn, and cook on the other side 1-2 minutes more. It must be fully cooked, because raw gram flour doesn’t taste good at all.
8. Keep warm in an oven on a low heat until the other dosa is cooked. Serve, if desired, on some of your favourite toasted bread with more spinach, and garnished with the reserved tomatoes and green onions. We spread our toast with a little of the cream from the top of a can of coconut milk for the interesting flavour.

Sweet Potato Coconut Curry

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This fragrant and warming meal takes under 20 minutes. It serves two people on its own, or four served with rice.

Ingredients

1 tsp suitable-for-vegan red chilli paste
1 can coconut milk
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1.5 tbsp soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, grated
400g sweet potato, peeled and in medium dice
1 small cauliflower, in florets
150g mushrooms, quartered
1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, medium dice
4 green onions, chopped
100g spinach
Handful basil, torn

Method

1. In a lidded frying pan, or a wide-rimmed pot, mix the red chilli paste, coconut milk, vegetable broth, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. Simmer for a minute or two until the sauce becomes fragrant.
2. Add the sweet potatoes and cauliflower, cover, bring to the boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Add the mushrooms, peppers, and green onions, re-cover, and simmer for 2-3 minutes more until cauliflower and sweet potato are cooked for your liking.
4. Turn off the heat, add the spinach and basil, recover, and allow to steam for about 2 minutes, until the spinach is wilted.
5. Serve and enjoy.

Sneaky Macaroni

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This dish takes under 20 minutes, serves 4-6, and is a hearty budget recipe. It’s called Sneaky Macaroni because the sauce is rich in phytonutrients, but you’d never know it from the taste!

Ingredients

75g pasta per person
2 heads broccoli, cut into the smallest florets you can manage

For the sauce

400g sweet potato, peeled and diced
200g carrots, peeled and chopped
1 can white beans (e.g. butter beans)
4 cloves garlic
2 tbsp yellow miso paste
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp suitable-for-vegans Dijon mustard
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp turmeric
2 tbsp tamari or soy sauce, or more to taste
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp onion granules
1 cup soy milk
1-2 cups vegetable broth, or as much as needed to thin the sauce to the desired consistency
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Make the sauce by placing the carrots and sweet potato in a large pot of cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer until fork tender–about 7 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions, adding the broccoli in the last 3-5 minutes of boiling time, depending on your preferred doneness.
3. When the sweet potatoes and carrots are cooked, drain, and add to the blender with the rest of the sauce ingredients. Blend to the desired thickness, adding enough vegetable broth to reach a smooth consistency.
4. Add the desired amount of sauce to the pasta, and stir through to warm. If the sauce has been sitting for a while and has thickened, stir through some more water or vegetable broth.

Sweet Potato Confetti Toast

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A colourful, simple lunch or side that takes under 20 minutes to make. This serves 2 people.

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, peeled
1/4 each red, yellow, and orange bell pepper (or just use 3/4 of one colour of your choice if you prefer), finely diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 avocado
1/2 tsp each garlic powder and onion granules
1 tsp lime juice
1 pinch red chilli flakes
salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Cut the potato into four long, 1/2-cm thick slices. To stop the potato rolling around as you try to cut it, take a thin slice from one side, and use this flattened side as the base to stabilize the potato.

Place the potato in a preheated health grill for 15 minutes, turning once. Alternatively, run it through the toaster for two rounds.

Meanwhile, mash the avocado with the garlic powder, onion granules, lime juice, chilli flakes, and salt and pepper.

Top the toasted sweet potato with the avocado, and sprinkle on the bell peppers and onion.

Triple scoop blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry frozen dessert

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Sometimes you need all three.

Ingredients

3/4 cups frozen blueberries
3/4 cups frozen raspberries
3/4 cups frozen strawberries
3T lemon juice each, separated
1 1/2 cups frozen banana, separated
1/2 cup soft, dried dates, pitted and chopped (or to taste)

Optional: 1t powdered maca root if you like. You could add a little chopped chocolate to the strawberry, ginger to the blueberry, a splash of white wine or 1T roasted red pepper to the raspberries to make the dish more ornate, or just keep it simple. You can leave the bananas out if you prefer or for a more sorbet like texture, but in that case, you may need to reduce the lemon juice a little and/or date more dates to taste.

Method

If your dates are quite dry, soak them a little ahead of time. Puree each set of berries separately with 1T lemon juice, 1/2 cup bananas and 1/3 dates. Scoop out and enjoy!

Creamy jicama, clementine and habanero soup

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A simple, mostly raw soup with a wealth of flavours and a little heat. This makes 4 small bowls or 2 large ones.

Ingredients

2 cups jicama, peeled and coarsely chopped
2T sesame seed butter
1 scallion, coarsely chopped, 2 – 3″ green reserved for garnish
1t fresh garlic, minced
4 small, ripe clementines, peeled, pith removed and seeded, 2-3 segments per bowl reserved for garnish
1/2T lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1/8t fresh habanero pepper (I use 1/4t), minced with a pinch coarse sea salt
Coarse sea salt to taste
1/4 cup fresh mixed baby greens

Optional: Use dried chili or fresh, minced jalapeño as an alternative and/or sriracha for garnish to add flavour and colour. Oranges will also work in place of clementines, but they won’t work as nicely for the garnish. Add a little olive with the clementines for the garnish for an even richer flavor and colour. Raw sesame seed butter isn’t available everywhere, but you can grind your own, or if you prefer, simply use the regular kind. Raw almond butter will change the texture and colour, but raw cashew butter, macadamia nut butter, a little olive or avocado oil will all go nicely in this soup.

Method

Puree the jicama and sea salt until smooth. Add the scallion, garlic, clementines, sesame seed butter, lemon juice and water. Mince, then crush and grind the habanero with a little sea salt. If you haven’t handled habanero pepper before, be careful. You may even want to use gloves.

When your pepper is a paste, add it with the rest of the ingredients. Puree until mostly smooth and (mostly) creamy. Season to taste. Ladle out and garnish with baby greens, a few clementine segments and serve.

Slowcooked refried bean dip with mushrooms and spinach

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A very simple, flavourful dip with lots of greens,
garnished here with some scallions, sriracha and a white miso, sesame spread.

Ingredients

1 large, 6″ portobello mushroom, stemmed and cut 1/4″ dice
2 cups shredded green cabbbage (I use cole slaw mix)
3 scallions, minced, 2″ – 3″ reserved for garnish
1T fresh garlic, minced
1/2t dried, ground cumin
1/4t dried, ground coriander
1/4t dried red chilis (or to taste)
1/4t coarse sea salt
1 cup refried beans
1T cashew butter
1T lemon juice
1 cup vegetable stock
2T tomato passata (or puree)
2 cups packed spinach, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Coarse sea salt and black pepper/red chili to taste

Optional: Add more cashew butter to taste and
application. Garnish with scallions, sriracha, a sour cashew cream, etc. Serve with tortilla chips, fresh bread, whatever you like. If you don’t make your beans from scratch with a little dried kombu, you may want to add a small piece with the stock. Remove it before adding the spinach.

Method

Warm your slowcooker on high. Add the mushrooms, cabbage, herbs, spices, and sea salt. Cook on high for about 2 hours until the cabbage is well wilted. Add everything from the refried beans up to and including the passata.

Reduce heat to low and cook another 3 – 4 hours or so, until the dip has thickened, stirring periodically. Slowcookers vary depending on the size and exact heat. Use the colour and thickness as a guide.

When the dip has thickened, add the spinach and toss to combine. Let cook another 10 minutes or so to wilt the spinach. Remove from heat. Add the nutritional yeast.
Season to taste. Garnish and serve warm.

Ginger, coffee, and walnut nice cream sweetened with dates

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A rich, lightly spicy treat.

Ingredients

3 medium frozen bananas (about 2 cups)
1 shot espresso (short)
1t fresh ginger, grated and minced (or to taste)
1/4 cup dried, soft dates, pitted and chopped
1T walnuts chopped with 1t reserved for garnish

Optional: 1t maca powder.

Method

Blend everything but the garnish until smooth. Scoop out, garnish with the walnuts and serve. If your dates are hard, soften them in the coffee then blend.